Scaly Leg Mites - Need Best / Easiest / Quickest Solution - Scaley

[pdirt]

Quote:
Bee, are you recommending Castor Oil over Nu Stock now? Is the main reason cost or other reasons?

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
The cost is one reason and the other is that it's equally good and it's nice to have an alternative that people can actually find...sometimes folks can't find the NS, but just about any pharmacy will have the CO.

I give it orally too, as a worm purge to new birds I am going to mix with my flock..sort of preventative maintenance before they hit the land/soils. It's been used for a spring worm tonic for humans for a long, long time here in the hills and some still use it as such and swear by it, so I don't mind dosing the birds with it.

It also seemed to really help my old rooster with arthritis in his hip...I found that out as a by the way when I applied it to his scale mites. Not only did his spurs start to grow back rather quickly, but he lost his gimp as well, which made me do even more research on the CO and now I feel like it's a handy, dandy thing to have around. I've used it for my own aches and pains with quick and lasting success and also on my mother's wounds, which healed rather quickly after they had been ongoing for some time.

I'm really like its antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial properties and how nice the scales grew back on my birds with the CO...even faster and more supple than with the NS.

 

[pdirt]

The cost is one reason and the other is that it's equally good and it's nice to have an alternative that people can actually find...sometimes folks can't find the NS, but just about any pharmacy will have the CO.

I give it orally too, as a worm purge to new birds I am going to mix with my flock..sort of preventative maintenance before they hit the land/soils. It's been used for a spring worm tonic for humans for a long, long time here in the hills and some still use it as such and swear by it, so I don't mind dosing the birds with it.

It also seemed to really help my old rooster with arthritis in his hip...I found that out as a by the way when I applied it to his scale mites. Not only did his spurs start to grow back rather quickly, but he lost his gimp as well, which made me do even more research on the CO and now I feel like it's a handy, dandy thing to have around. I've used it for my own aches and pains with quick and lasting success and also on my mother's wounds, which healed rather quickly after they had been ongoing for some time.

I'm really like its antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial properties and how nice the scales grew back on my birds with the CO...even faster and more supple than with the NS.

Thanks for your detailed response. I think that's why your so popular around here, your answers just make so much sense.

As a worm purge for your birds, how would you administer it? Just mix it in with their food? And your rooster's hip, did you actually apply CO to his hip or was it more just a bonus to when you applied to his scales? In any case, castor oil sounds much better than mineral oil that we first used. We did get some Nu Stock and it worked very well, but yeah, I could see the cost add up if you had a large flock or had persistent mite problems. I was quite surprised and please though as to how large the tube of Nu Stock actually was.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks for your detailed response. I think that's why your so popular around here, your answers just make so much sense.

As a worm purge for your birds, how would you administer it? Just mix it in with their food? And your rooster's hip, did you actually apply CO to his hip or was it more just a bonus to when you applied to his scales? In any case, castor oil sounds much better than mineral oil that we first used. We did get some Nu Stock and it worked very well, but yeah, I could see the cost add up if you had a large flock or had persistent mite problems. I was quite surprised and please though as to how large the tube of Nu Stock actually was.

I just pour a little in the cap of the bottle, open their mouths and pour it in. Someone had asked me about dosing amounts but I'm not sure there is one for chickens....someone said they gave .5 cc/mL to each of theirs. It didn't cause diarrhea in the birds...I know that's what some have expressed concern over.

We didn't apply it to his hip but clear up to his knee. This bird had been limping for about half a year after we had gotten him back from another place where I think they might have kicked him. He would march like a little German soldier on really bad days, with that leg straight out and when he ran he sort of hopped along. After we had applied the CO and it was a couple of months later, my mother noted he wasn't walking or limping like that any longer. That was the same time I noticed his spurs~which those people had cut off close to the leg~were growing back...after all that time! He never limped again after that and his spurs grew an inch in just three months after his first application of the CO...and had never grown at all in the 6 mo. prior, so I knew the CO had done this.

So, of course, I started really looking into the CO and someone else had posted an article on what it's good for and among those things was arthritis and another was hair regrowth. Then, as I usually do, I just started reading scads of things about the CO and what people were using it for....very interesting stuff, this CO. Kind of puts me in mind of ACV in a way, as there seems to be so many things it's good for.

I used it on a dreadful wound that had been on the cat for a month...so deep you could see his muscles and tendons. I finally got tired of seeing that red, gaping thing and him limping around so badly and so I made him submit to getting CO on it...he's a little wild and wouldn't really let me even examine it. By the next day his limping had gotten better and he was putting weight on that foot, and the wound had formed a good scab. The hair grew back so quickly that it was only a matter of days and the wound was just a little white spot...after it being open for nearly a month! That's quick. As a nurse, I was incredibly impressed.

That CO is now in my medicine cabinet to stay. It helped a whole pen of meat roosters with some existing frost bite and prevented them from getting anymore...and it happened so quickly that I couldn't believe it. By the time they were processed they all had cherry red combs and no frost bite and we were having temps in the teens and twenties all the time they were here and they were in an open air pen.

 

[SusieBuddy63]

I wouldn't do it that often....just wait and let the first application work. It will either work or it won't but you won't know if it did unless you wait a bit and see what happens. That CO stays on the legs for a good long time, even with the birds walking around in wet grass. The reason I say this is that it can become costly if you treat that often and the whole good thing about castor oil is that it works well in one treatment and it keeps the costs low.

In about 2 wks, if you see no change at all, I'd look at them again and see if you think another coat would benefit. The CO is soothing to the scales and toxic to the mites but no need to keep layering it on unless you feel it's not sticking. If you have birds with really bad legs, you can soak them in warm epsom salts before applying it again so that the old scales and dead cells/mite damage can be soaked off before applying again.

Hello!

I have been keeping an eye on my chickens since applying the Castor Oil about 6 days ago... Today I picked up my favorite chicken and her feet DO look better, but one of her toes has developed an abcess looking thing on it. I'm not sure what to do with it?? Should I reapply the Castor Oil now? I did hold off to see what would happen, but in my gut, I'm feeling like I should do it at least one more time. But for the chicken with the really ouchie looking Toe, I'm not sure what to do.. I will go out and take a picture with my cell phone and see if I can upload it here. I'm happy overall with how they are looking, but I am really concerned about my one chicken's toe. She is eating and everything and acting just like herself, but dang, that's just gotta hurt!

Susie

 

[Beekissed]

Hello!

I have been keeping an eye on my chickens since applying the Castor Oil about 6 days ago... Today I picked up my favorite chicken and her feet DO look better, but one of her toes has developed an abcess looking thing on it. I'm not sure what to do with it?? Should I reapply the Castor Oil now? I did hold off to see what would happen, but in my gut, I'm feeling like I should do it at least one more time. But for the chicken with the really ouchie looking Toe, I'm not sure what to do.. I will go out and take a picture with my cell phone and see if I can upload it here. I'm happy overall with how they are looking, but I am really concerned about my one chicken's toe. She is eating and everything and acting just like herself, but dang, that's just gotta hurt!

Susie

I'd soak her foot in warm epsom salts water for a bit and then reapply the castor oil. The castor oil also has antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties, so if it's an infection the epsom salts will start the process of drawing out the infection there and the castor oil can help finish it. Check to see if there isn't something inside the wound..a dark center, etc...and if there isn't, this treatment should help. If there is, you might want to gently probe that darkness to see if something needs removed and pus needs to be expressed(squeezed out)...and then apply the castor oil afterwards.

 

[SusieBuddy63]

I'd soak her foot in warm epsom salts water for a bit and then reapply the castor oil. The castor oil also has antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties, so if it's an infection the epsom salts will start the process of drawing out the infection there and the castor oil can help finish it. Check to see if there isn't something inside the wound..a dark center, etc...and if there isn't, this treatment should help. If there is, you might want to gently probe that darkness to see if something needs removed and pus needs to be expressed(squeezed out)...and then apply the castor oil afterwards.

Thanks so much Beekissed!

I really appreciate this forum and your help... I am getting my new babies tomorrow! Black Australorps and Buff Orpingtons and 5 runner ducks I am really enjoying my chicken hobby! Just gotta deal with this scaley leg mite issue.... Looks like the Castor oil is working though

I'll keep you posted and thanks again~!

 

[azygous]

Two questions on scaly leg mites: Is it contagious? Will my other chickens pick it up from the one who has them?

Will eucalyptus oil work to cure scaly leg mites?

 

[Beekissed]

Two questions on scaly leg mites: Is it contagious? Will my other chickens pick it up from the one who has them?

Will eucalyptus oil work to cure scaly leg mites?

Yep...they will spread to your other chickens in time. Not sure about that oil but it may be painful if the scales are very irritated by the mites.

 

[SusieBuddy63]

Two questions on scaly leg mites: Is it contagious? Will my other chickens pick it up from the one who has them?

Will eucalyptus oil work to cure scaly leg mites? 

Hi and YES, your other chickens can get them. Most of mine have it and if I had known what it was I could have prevented it from getting to where it is now.

As far as the eucalyptus oil, I don't see why not but for me the castor oil is definitely working and it's pretty cheap. I have only applied it once a week ago and will apply it again tomorrow evening.

My one chicken that has the infected toe had it the worst but her legs are really looking better after only one application of the castor oil.